Fraudsters and Charlatans by Linda Stratmann

Author:Linda Stratmann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fraudsters and charlatans: A Peek at Some of History’s Greatest Rogues
ISBN: 9780752486956
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-04-17T16:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

The Grappler

When Ernest Terah Hooley came to London, he was ‘determined to make a million or go smash’.1 He did both. In 1896 he was unknown; by 1897 his name was an international byword for conspicuous financial success; by 1898 he was bankrupt. There is a myth that Hooley was a commercial visionary who was able to spot those industries destined for future success, and that his only failing was his personal extravagance. In reality, Hooley had little understanding of high finance, and naïvely assumed that a boom that created rapid and illusory profits would last for ever. Many of his deals were, in his own words, ‘warm [that is, dubious] to the point of sultriness’,2 though not actually illegal, but when bribery, fraud and slander were to his advantage he added these weapons to his armoury. His main talents were boundless audacity and the ability to lie copiously and without shame. His fleecing of the investing classes was something about which he remained cheerfully unrepentant to the end of his life.

Ernest Terah Hooley was born in Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, on 5 February 1859. His father, Terah, had a small lace-making business at Long Eaton. Young Ernest assisted his father and was eventually taken into partnership. The Hooleys regularly attended the Baptist chapel, where Ernest played the harmonium. He was a non-smoker and teetotaller, and was often to be heard lecturing others about the sins of alcohol, tobacco and evil speaking. The collection plate was carried by John Charles Cottam, Hooley’s lifelong friend. For both men, the temptation of wealth soon overcame any moral scruples. The orphaned son of a railwayman, Cottam established himself as a company promoter. He used advertising to hike share prices to unreasonable heights, then quickly sold his holdings and walked away leaving the gullible public with worthless investments. Cottam’s rash speculations resulted in his bankruptcy in 1894, but not before his early success had inspired Hooley to follow his example.

At the age of 30 Hooley told his father he was through with the lace trade. With capital of £20,000, he went to Nottingham, where he started dealing in houses, land and breweries. He had always wanted to be an old-fashioned country gentleman, and in 1888 acquired the historic house at Risley Hall and its surrounding farmlands for £5,000. Over the years he spent £100,000 on improving the property. By 1896, with £150,000 in his pocket, he found the Midlands too small for his ambition and, convinced that he had a magic touch with money, determined that from then on he would deal in millions.3

Together with Martin Diederich Rucker, manager of the London branch of bicycle manufacturers Humber and Co. Ltd, Hooley launched a number of subsidiaries. The mid-1890s was a time of massive speculation in the cycle trade. Cycling had become a craze, its popularity established on two crucial developments of the previous decade, the diamond-frame safety bicycle and the pneumatic tyre. Supply could not keep pace with demand. Dozens of new companies were being launched,

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